Assiglstoe to the mills



(No Model.) 2 SheetsLSheet 2. M. B. MILLS.

GATE.

No. 370,643. Patented Set.'27 1887.

N. PETERS. Pham-ulhugmpmr. washington DJ;

. UNITED STATES PATENT EEicE.

MORTIMER B. MILLS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE MILLS RAILROADGATE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

GATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 370,643, datedSeptember 27, 1887.

` Application niega May 25,1887. serial No. 239,303. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, MORTIMEE B. MILLS, a citizen of the 'United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Gates; and I herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact de-` scription ofthe same.

My invention relates to an improvement in the mechanism for operatingthe swinging bars of gates of the kind used most commonly atrailroad-crossings and actuated by fluid-pressure-ordinarily air-pressure.

A difficulty encountered in the use of gates of the foregoing character'consists in a tendency in the bars forming a pair which produce thebarrier by being swung toward each other to lack uniformity in theirmovements, whereby one rises and falls to its extreme positions beforethe other, the difficulty referred to being increased by wind blowing inthe direction ofthe movement of a bar, and being especially noticeablewhere long bars are required to form the barrier. To overcome thisdifficulty, various means have been provided for tying together the barsforming a pair to cause the rise or descent of one to raise or lowerwith it the other and thereby occasion uniformity in their movements,notwithstanding the wind.

My present improvement relates particularly to novel means for tyingtogether, for the purpose stated, the bars forming a pair, although itis also useful, as will hereinafter be more fully explained, for asingle swinging bar, when used to form the barrier,to raise or lower it.Being designed particularly, however, for connecting the swinging armsforming pairs, as and for the purpose aforesaid, I conne my descriptionin the main to its `application to such purpose, as illustrated in thedrawings, in which- Figure 1 is a broken sectional side elevation of apneumatic railroad-crossin g gate comprising swinging bars on posts andprovided with my improvement. Fig. 2 is a broken plan view ofthe pipescommunicating with the airpump,and showing the three-way cock; Fig. 3,an enlarged view in broken side elevation of the collapsible-receiverand lever mechanism applied to a bar; Fig. 4, a broken sectional planview of a detail; Fig. 5, a section taken on the line 5 of Fig. l, andviewed inthe direction of the arrow; and Fig. 6,asection taken on theline 6 6 of Fig. 4, and viewed in the direction of the arrows.

A and A are posts, each of the kind formed of two parallel uprights, r,Fig. 5.

B and B are the swinging bars, of ordinary construction with a view tolightness, supported, respectively,between theuprights forming the poststo swing in a vertical plane toward and from each other on shafts s ands.

C and C' are links, composed, for the sake of lightness, of gas-pipe,pivoted at their upper ends, respectively, to the bars B and B,tocorresponding sides of the axes, preferably, as shown in Fig. 1, towardthe rear ends of the bars,or behind the axes thereof. The link C ispivotally connected at its lower end to one end of abell-cranklever,D,supported at its angle to hang between bearings g between theuprights forming the post A at the base of the latter, and the link C issimilarly connected to a bell-crank lever, D', supported like thebell-crank lever D.

Links p and p are pivoted, as shown in Fig. 1, to the opposite ends ofthe respective bellcrank levers, and extend toward each other to thetransversely-perforated slotted heads o and of of threaded shanks n andn', screwed laterally into sleeves E and E', connected by a rod, F,(formed preferably of gas-pipe) lsecured toward its opposite ends in thesleeves by means of set-screws, as shown. The links p and p extend attheir adjacent ends through the slots in the heads o and o', and aresecured therein by means of pins inserted through openings in the endsof the links made to coincide with the transverse openings in the heads.Several openings are provided along the end of each link p and p', topermit' them to be lengthened and shortened. From the sides of thesleeves E and E', opposite the points at which the threaded shanks a andn are inserted, perforated ears m and m extend.

G is a lever in the form of a flat board pivotally connected at itsupper end, as shown, to the axis s of the arm B, to swing loosely onsuch axis, being between the side bars of the arm, and extending fromits fulcrum obliquely downward toward the end of the connectingrod F,provided with the sleeve E,with which it is connected at'the ear m by alink, I.

G is alever exactlylike the lever Gin form and in the manner of itsconnection to the axis s of the arm B and ear m of the sleeve E by meansof a link, Z. Upon the adjacent surfaces of the levers G and G areconvex bear ings 7c, Fig. 3, and respectively over the bearings 7.:collapsible receivers H and H are supported iiatwise. The receivers Hand H comprise concave-convex shields I and I and diaphragms, eachformed prcferably,for the sake of strength, of two sheets or thicknessesof material, as shownI employ rubber and canvas-clamped at their edgesbetween lianges t' on the shields, and frames fi underneath the flanges,to which they are bolted, as shown in Fig. 1, to secure the diaphragmsaround their edges to t-he shields and render the collapsible receiversthus formed by the shields and diaphragms air-tight.

The operating mechanism thus described is boxed in, as shown in Fig. 1,and the links p p andvmechanism directly connecting them may be belowthe surface of the ground to a depth that will permit the imposition ofa cover over them flush with the surface of the same, as represented, toavoid obstructing the street.

Pipes K and K enter the upper sides of the shields I and I and boxing,and support the collapsible receivers in position with relation to thelevers G and G, to which,however, the collapsible receivers are in noway fastened,and the pipes communicate controllably through a three-waycock, L, conveniently located, with a supply-pipe, M, leading to anair-pump of ordinary construction (not shown) and with the open air-thatis to say, the c0nstruction of the three-way cock (which is old) is suchthat when one pipe K or K communicates through it and the supply-pipewith the pump the other communicates through the three-way cock with theopen air.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that by pulling theconnecting-rod F in one direction both bars will be loweredsimultaneously and uniformly, and by pulling it in the oppositedirection they will be raised in the same way. The direction of the pullfor either purpose of lowering or raising depends of course upon thelocation of the connection of the links C and C to the arms, whether infront of the axes or behind them. In either case the location is such asto avoid a deadcenter, being nearest the outer sides or backs of thearms, as shown.

The pulling alternately in opposite directions of the connecting-rod Fis effected from the levers G and G by expanding and collapsing thereceivers H and H. Thus, when it is desired to lower the bars with themechanism arranged as shown, the thrce-way cock L is turned to opencommunication of the receiver H with the pump and of the receiver H,through the three-way cock, with the open air. By operating the air-pumpthe bag H is expanded against the lever G', thereby turning the lattertoward the post A on its fulcrum s and pulling the connecting-rod F andincidentally the links p and p in a direction to turn the bell-cranklevers D' and D to raise the links C and C, and thereby tip the arms Band B toward each other. The movement of the lever G, which is in adirection opposite to that 01;' the lever G, forces out the contents ofthe receiver H,introduced by the previous operation to raise the bars.named operation pulls the connecting-rod F and links p and p in thedirection opposite to that described, thereby turning the bell-cranklevers in a direction to pull the links Gand C downward. rlhe convexbearings k on the levers are useful, particularly in serving tothoroughly collapse the receivers when the adjacent levers G and G areforced against them.

The tying mechanism affords means for operating with ease the gate-barsuniformly and simultaneously, which means transmit great force withcomparatively little exertion, and the same advantage is attained 'whena single gate-bar disconnected from any other-that is, devoid of theconnectingbar F--is operated by a bag, H, and lever G, connected with alink, p, belhcrank lever D, and link C, connecting the link p with agate-bar, B. Vhen the mechanism is confined to a singleigatebar,inasmuch as the latter is then actuated only in one direction byair-pressure, the side of the axis s opposite to that at which the linkC isY connected should be weighted to cause it to assume the desiredposition automatically when the bag is collapsed.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. In a gate having a verticallyswinging bar, the combination, with theswinging bar, of a bell-crank lever pivoted at its angle to move in avertical plane, and connected from one end with the swinging bar to oneside of its axis, a lever fulcrumed near one end to a stationarysupport, and connected from its opposite end with the opposite end ofthe bellcrank lever,and a collapsible receiver confined against the saidlever and communicating with a fluid-pressure supply, substantially asand for the purpose set forth.

2. In a gate having a verticallyswinging bar, the combination, with theswinging bar, of a bell-crank lever pivoted at its angle to move in avertical plane, and connected from one end with the swinging bar to oneside of its axis, a lever provided on one side with a convex projection,and fulcrumed near one end to a stationary support and connected fromits opposite end with the opposite end of the bell-crank lever, and acollapsible receiver confined against the said lever and communicatingwith a fluid-pressure supply, substantially as and for the purpose setforth.

3. In a gate having a vertically-swinging bar, the combination,with theswinging bar, of a bell-crank lever pivoted at its angle to move in avertical plane, a link connecting one end of the bell-crank lever withthe swinging bar rIhis lasti IOC) IIO

to one side of its axis, a lever fulcrumed near one end to a stationarysupport, a collapsible receiver confined against the said lever andcommunicating with a duid-pressure supply, and alink connecting the freeend of the said lever adj ustably with the opposite end of thebell-crank lever, substantially as and for the purpose set forth. l

4. In a gate, the combination of two vertically-swinging bars, vB andB', and means for connecting the bars together to cause the rise ordescent of one to fraise or lower with it the other, comprisingbell-crank levers D and D', connected from corresponding ends with thegate-bars to corresponding sides of their axes, leversG and G',fulcrumed near their upper ends to stationary supports, and connectedtogether from their lower ends and with the opposite ends of thebell-crank levers, and collapsible receivers H and H', confined againstthe levers G G', and controllably communicating with afluid-pressuresupply, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. In a gate, the combination of two vertically-swinging bars, B and B',and means for connecting the bars together to'cause the rise or descentof one to raise or lower with it the other7 comprising bell-crank leversD and D', links C and C', connecting the bell-crank levers fromcorresponding ends with the swinging bars to corresponding sides oftheir axes, levers G and G', fulcrumed near their upper ends tOstationary supports', a connecting-rod, F, carrying toward opposite endssleeves E and E',Wth which the free ends of the said levers areconnected, links p and p', connecting the said sleeves with the Oppositeends of the bell-crank levers, and collapsible receivers H and H',confined against the levers G and andG', and controllably communicatingwith a fluid-pressure supply, substantially as and for the purpose setforth.

MORTIMER B. MILLS.

GEORGE C. COOK, J. W. DYRENFORTH.

